What Am I Talking About Really? ..
Well sure, sometimes I just everything go on the weekend, like work thoughts, stress, paying bills, writing checks, and so on. But not this time. Nope, this time I mean a little something different. I am talking about letting 'Stuff' go.
Do you remember.. A post I wrote a while back, about selling a few things I had collected over the years? I was at it again the weekend before last. I dug around in the basement and found a set of vintage children's toys. My aim was simple.. sell the toys and reinvest the money into precious metals.
I believe it is always a good idea to hedge against rising inflation. What better way to do this then to invest in metals like silver and/or gold!
The Toy Farm Equipment ..
This set of farm equipment, including farm tractor's, I purchased at a yard sale many, many years ago. If I guessed, it was sometime around 1999 or 2000. I was browsing the junk in this persons yard, when I saw the box of tractors. I saw the value in them. I paid somewhere around $15 to $20 dollars for the whole lot of them.
The box was falling apart, and contained more dirt than toys I think.. hehe. There where the tractors of course..
Not all of them in the best shape. Some had obvious signs of heavy use, while others were showing signs of corrosion. The paint was falling off of a few of them. I knew one thing though, DO NOT TRY AND CLEAN OR REPAIT THEM! And I did not. As a kid I had the tendency to paint my toys a different color, but this time I refrained from doing that. I did not want to depreciate their value anymore than the normal wear of time has.
The box also contained a bunch of accessories and other farm equipment. Not sure if any of these items go together or were originally bought together, but who cares.. I'm selling it. The plastic in these pieces was very brittle.. time has taken her toll on it.
I took a bunch of photos.. From different angles, trying to give potential buyers the best description possible before making a bid to purchase these items. I used a "Popular Auction Site" and listed the items there. I was very unsure of what to start the listing at, so I took a bit of a risk and started the bidding at $1.00 USD.
Over the next seven days.. the auction got lots of visitors and a handful of questions. I know nothing about these toys, but did my very best to answer them. I was really surprised how a few of the potential bidders guided me and taught me a little about the items I had. So refreshing in a world where man are trying to pull on over on you.
The price went up dollar by dollar.. and in the end, to sweeten the deal, I though in a Coke! hahaha.. Just kidding. I put that Coke in there the give a sense of size.. a size comparison.
The Bidding Was Over ..
When the timer ran out, seven days after listing it. The final winning bid came in at $270.00 USD and that really did surprise me. Given their condition, I really expected a much lower price. I suppose it was a good idea I bought those crappy toys so long ago.
I got a good return on my investment, and now I am ready to reinvest that money into something else.
And I Already Have My Eye On Something!
You'll just have to wait to find out what that 'Something' is.
“I do not particularly like the word 'work.' Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.”
― Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution
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All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.
About Me ~ The Artist
My art work incorporates a wide variety of subject matter, including landscape, seascape, cityscape, and still life images. My works are the product of a continuing process of exploration through which I seek to portray personal and visionary interpretations of my surroundings. My paintings are impressions of places and events from everyday life, an interpretation of my imagination, and personal responses to what I see and feel on a daily basis. More recently I have invested generous amounts of time into my landscape painting. I am surrounded by natural and man made beauty, which inherently presents itself in the tri-state area, and almost demands that I paint it.
Not everything is art. Art is not everything, but it comes close. Art is everywhere and all the time. Art makes you experience the beauty of the world, the people in it, and the places we call home. Art itself is so influential that it can tell stories, show feelings, and express passion or fury. Art exists in addition to language; expression of sensations and thoughts, revealing a way of thinking too subtle and delicate for words.
For me art requires love, honesty and perseverance. In return, it reveals some personal, non-analyzable, and creative untamed passion. For the public, art with its magnificent beauty, improves mood and health and builds better human beings and communities. It engages the intellect, softens the heart, strengthens the soul and frees the spirit.
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The miniature toys are amazing, I have always wished to have some ever since I was a kid, once made of metal rather than the cheap ones which are very easy to break. I even spend quite some time on YouTube watching restorations of all these vintage toys.
It is great that you got some bank from them despite not fully being aware of their value at first. They are amazing to have.
Probably the buyer will restore them using the exact paint and parts and they will last another couple decades.
Your probably right. The buyer may be someone who restores old toys. I hope they get restored and get back close to original. All I know is that I can't do it. hehe. 😊
Lol, many can't do it, it is an art of some sort, takes lots of time, patience, and some bank in sourcing some of the spare parts. It is more like maintaining a Bonsai I think.
I love watching restorations videos too, they are so cool
Did you set a reserve price or did you just let it go from the $1 point? That is pretty awesome that you were able to sell them. I am actually a bit surprised that many of the parts were plastic. I think with a lot of the older ones they were all metal. I could be totally wrong though. Nice haul! I look forward to seeing what you flip that cash into!
I didn't set a reserve and I usually do not. I figured they would sell for a good amount due to the research I did, but wasn't expecting quite that much. I think it may have had something to do with the accessories. Not 100% sure though.
There was limited plastic, but some non-the-less.. if you look close in some of the pics you can see it. Like these discs below. Two sets are perfect and two no so perfect. hehe
Precious metals in one form or another.. I have my eye on something though. I'll be doing a post on it if it comes to fruition 😁
Ah, okay. That makes sense! Good luck!
I still have to get used to the tags you use!
Anyway...
You kept your toys! Impressive!
Are you sure it time you got rid of them? Hehehe.
That's a nice harvest of beans!!!
I post stuff all over the place, and there is just no telling.. haha. I actually bought these at a yard sale for like $15/20 bucks (I think I mentioned it in the writing.. but I'll let you slide for skimming this time. 🤣 haha Obviously I am just kidding) My personal toys, I still have. These I bought with the purpose of reselling them and just waited a GOOD LONG while to do it.
That was a good year for beans. I may plant more this year if I get around to it. lol
Now I missed that, LOL!
My beans are still bearing fruit. I think I will do an update, if not the tomatoes, the eggplants!
That is if I remember!!!
Have a nice weekend, @bdmillergallery
A lovely collection of toys which would look good on a little farm! It is great that you managed to sell them and reinvest. I loved the quote as we humans do tend to work work work. Sometimes sitting still and just enjoying life is a bliss, but many would see these moments as laziness or lack of efficiency. Why do we always have to DO something? We do have something to learn from animals as they know how to be in the moment.
Speaking of that quote.. I believe we spend most of our quality part of life, working so that we can spend the rest of it doing what we should have been doing. Damn money gets in the way every time!
I was happy to see them go and will be happy when the purchase I made with the proceeds arrives. 😁 I will be posting about it for sure!
You could not be more right about this. I think this kind of mentality shows that we as humans have a lot to learn about what happiness is all about. If it would be about money, then rich people should be the happiest. And many are not. I believe in pursuing a meaningful goal, something that makes you want to do that thing regardless if it pays off or not.
Have a lovely weekend!
The toys may be gone, but you sure got some nice photo's before letting them go. is it time for a new watch?
Hahaha.. Yeah I had my eye on a few then Gold prices have been going up steadily over the last 2 weeks or so. The price of watches has gone up too because of it. I'll keep my eye out but I may be going in a different direction.. 😁
Wow! You had quite a collection of model tractors! We never saw these in shops here. I ought to learn to let go too! Such a good idea to invest in precious metal such as silver!
Ah! Fresh green beans! Your assistant is doing most of the work by using his commanding body language!
hehe.. Pepper was found wherever I was, including picking beans. He didn't like them very much. He would chew on them and then spit them out onto the ground.
I used to have several as a kid, but these I bought just to resell. I just didn't think I would have held on to them for as long as I did.
Silver has the most potential to explode in price. We'll see 😊
You know, we don’t have shops selling silver coins or bars in our country!! Only gold!
So, it’s almost impossible to collect old silver coins or silver bars. I could buy some industrial silver pellets which are imported.
These toys look so real and cute. Glad you got a good return on your investment. Here where I live people buy gold at every opportunity. It often serves them well when in financial trouble.
I guess letting go almost always helps.
That may be where I head with these profits. Right to the Gold seller! hehe. Gold or silver or whatever, you can't go wrong by buying it. 😊
You would be amazed at what people are willing to pay for “vintage” stuff .
Yeah, it's crazy but not that crazy I guess. I was thinking since they were not perfect any longer, that they would have gone for much less.
Hope all is well with you and good old NYC 😁